© Mary Engelbreit Enterprises, Inc.

Mary Engelbreit is a graphic artist and children's book illustrator who launched her own magazine, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion in 1996. She writes:

“This is a variation of a card I did years ago for the St. Louis Art Museum. It featured a bench that is in the museum's fabulous collection (although I embellished this one a little!)”

Another great share by Sandy (overthetrail) (Sandy is nowadays mostly on Facebook, but click her tag for many more nice things that I have snaffled from her).

“Fallingwater is the name of a house built over a waterfall in southwest Pennsylvania. Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect, designed the house for his clients, the Kaufmann family. Fallingwater was built between 1936 and 1939. It instantly became famous, and today it is a National Historic Landmark.

“Why is it so famous? It's a house that doesn’t even appear to stand on solid ground, but instead stretches out over a 30’ waterfall. It captured everyone’s imagination when it was on the cover of Time magazine in 1938...”

One of many several nice places that Sandy (overthetrail) has visited and shared (which she does nowadays mostly on Facebook, but click her tag for more of her great shares).

“The Innermost House Foundation is a non-profit organization devoted to exploring the transcendental dimension of American life expressed by Thomas Jefferson in his writings, preached by Ralph Waldo Emerson, practiced by Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond and lived by Diana Lorence at Innermost House.”

What started out for me as the discovery of a pretty picture led me to an unexpected wealth of information (and a whole lot of other beautiful images, e.g. these) that I had never come across before. If you follow the links (as I know most people won't have time to do) you can spend hours here...

Yet another great share by overthetrail - thanks, Sandy!

“Boothbay Harbor Supermoon” (two links!) by Benjamin Williamson


Thanks again to overthetrail for sharing this on her FB page.

Humpback whale and calf, off the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico
A really interesting, in-depth article about the study of humpback whale songs, with many opportunities to listen.

The article starts with the discovery by scientists that the strange and eerie sounds were actually songs, and the fact that humpback whales don't just sing songs - they compose with the whales around them, singing a song that evolves over time.

The article describes how acoustic biologist Katy Payne analyzed the sounds... and the results are fascinating.

Thanks again to overthetrail for sharing this on her FB page.

These gardens (near Philadelphia) look like a great place to visit. For those who can't make it (like me) their web site is a particularly attractive second-best.

Thanks again to my friend overthetrail (the other Sandy) for this one!

(She hasn't posted here much for a while, but click her overthetrail tag to see some really nice stuff that she has sent my way over the years.)

This minimalist house has been designed by Barend Koolhaas, and is set among the beautiful countryside of Almen, in the Netherlands.

Despite its outward appearance from the front of the property, the building is actually triangular in shape, cutting its apparent footprint in half. The exterior has been designed in the shape of the barns found in the local area, and it’s been clad with timber siding, and corrugated steel on the roof.

This great example of living simply and sustainably is worth looking at in more detail, as is the rest of the site.

Thanks again to my friend overthetrail (Sandy) for this one!

(She hasn't posted here much for a while, but click her overthetrail tag to see some really nice stuff that she has sent my way over the years.)

This great hi-def trailer video comes from Fantastic Fungi, The Official Site for Everything Fungi - “for foodies, scientists and explorers”.

Thanks again to my friend overthetrail (Sandy) for this one! (She hasn't posted here much for a while, but click her overthetrail tag to see some really nice stuff that she has sent my way over the years.)

27 Kids reading “Little Humans” by Brandon Stanton (warning: it may crack you up)

Thanks again to my friend overthetrail (Sandy) for this one! (She hasn't posted here much for a while, but click her overthetrail tag to see some really nice stuff that she has sent my way over the years.)

Black raspberry vine in Oregon, beautifully photographed by my friend overthetrail (Sandy)

Sandy (a friend from Stumbler days) doesn't post here very much nowadays, but I have had so much good stuff from her over the years. Click her tag above for some treasures from the past.

A beautiful and interesting film (well worth the hour to view) shared by my friend Overthetrail - thanks, Sandy!

(Sandy hasn't posted here much for a while, but click her tag to see some really nice stuff that she has sent my way)

An onlooker witnesses the annular solar eclipse as the sun sets in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 20, 2012.
Photographed by Colleen Pinski of Peyton, Colorado, for the the Natural World category. (© Smithsonian.com)
Thanks to my friend Overthetrail for this one!

"Slumber My Darling", a beautiful lullaby by Stephen Foster, beautifully performed by Alison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma - thanks, Overthetrail (Sandy)!

Caretake this moment.
Immerse yourself in its particulars.
Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed.

Quit the evasions.
Stop giving yourself needless trouble.
It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now.
You are not some disinterested bystander.
Exert yourself.

Respect your partnership with providence.
Ask yourself often, How may I perform this particular deed
such that it would be consistent with and acceptable to the divine will?
Heed the answer and get to work.

When your doors are shut and your room is dark you are not alone.
The will of nature is within you as your natural genius is within.
Listen to its importunings.
Follow its directives.

As concerns the art of living, the material is your own life.
No great thing is created suddenly.
There must be time.

Give your best and always be kind.

~ Epictetus ~

(Epictetus: The Art of Living a New Interpretation by Sharon Lebell.)

Thanks to my friend Sandy for this one!

From Sharon Lebell's page:

Sharon Lebell has built her life and livelihood around "rescuing philosophy from philosophers," freeing important, popularly overlooked philosophical ideas from arid, archaic language and obfuscation... In Sharon Lebell's hands the originally practical, earthy spirit of Stoic philosophy comes alive, making available to all this great tradition's wealth of helpful inspiration and timeless life guidance...

Sharon is also a master player of the hammered dulcimer, a stringed instrument of ancient middle-eastern origin. With her books and musical composition and performance she seeks to accomplish the same purpose: to spread a little sweetness and ease into the world.

(It happens that I have a weakness for the hammered dulcimer. If you haven't heard one played with the effect that Sharon tries to achieve, see here for some good examples!)

"Submerged leaves" - one of Sandy's own pictures from her recent field trip. Click the picture to see the rest!
Thanks for sharing, Sandy!


Which just reminded me...

[River Man - a haunting autumnal song in 5/4 time by Nick Drake]